Analysis Of Language Play In The Brand Names and Slogans Of Beauty Products.
ABSTRACT
Saat ini, iklan telah menjadi bagian dari kehidupan masyarakat kita. Melalui
iklan, kita dapat mengetahui munculnya produk-produk atau merk-merk baru. Iklan
dapat kita temukan di majalah, koran, televisi dan juga internet. Dalam iklan, kita dapat
menemukan nama-nama produk dan juga slogan-slogan iklan yang menarik untuk
dilihat dan didengar oleh konsumen.
Oleh sebab itu, saya tertarik untuk menganalisa permainan kata atau yang
dikenal dengan language play yang ada di dalam nama-nama produk dan slogan-slogan
produk. Melalui permainan kata pada nama-nama produk dan slogan-slogan, diharapkan
iklan yang disampaikan akan menarik perhatian konsumen sehingga mereka dapat
mengingat produk tersebut dan pada akhirnya tetarik untuk membelinya. Saya
menggunakan teori permainan kata yang dihubungkan dengan aspek ilmu bahasa
(linguistic aspects) yaitu fonologi (phonology) yang berhubungan dengan suara atau
bunyi, morfologi (morphology) yang berhubungan dengan kata dan imbuhan, dan
sintaksis atau ilmu kalimat (syntax) yang berhubungan dengan susunan kalimat.
Seluruh proses analisis merupakan wujud nyata kepedulian saya terhadap
kreativitas para pembuat iklan dalam menyampaikan pesannya terhadap konsumen; yang
pada akhirnya merupakan wujud nyata penghargaan terhadap kreativitas para pembuat
iklan dalam membuat iklannya.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE .............................................................................................................................i
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ................................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................3
Purpose of the Study .......................................................................................................4
Methods of Research .......................................................................................................4
Organization of the Thesis ..............................................................................................4
CHAPTER TWO: LANGUAGE PLAY ........................................................... 5
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE PLAY IN
THE BRAND NAMES AND SLOGANS IN
BEAUTY PRODUCTS ............................................................................. 8
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION .................................................................. 20
BILBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 22
APPENDICES:
List of the classification of Advertisements ....................................................................23
The Advertisements ........................................................................................................25
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APPENDIX 1
List of data classification of Advertisements
List of Brand Names and Language Play Analyzed
No.
Brand names
of beauty
products
Type of language play
phonology
Morphology
syntax
Graphological
variation
1
Eversoft white
Compounding
2
Inchloss
Compounding
3
biotherm
Blending
4
sunspirit
Compounding
5
Free&Free
6
Smooth As
Repetitive
syntax
alliteration
Silk
7
Cellfood
Compounding
8
Ageless
Compounding
Woman
9
10
Super
Slimming
Shower Gel
Elastiderm
11
bebeautiful
alliteration
Blending
Compounding
1
12
Covermark
Compounding
13
Youngblood
Compounding
14
Eyebright-Anti
Puffiness Gel
GoSmile
Compounding
15
Compounding
Graphological
variation
16
Hypershine
Compounding
Gloss
17
Dream Cream
Minimal
pairs
18
Colorevolution
Compounding
19
Icecream
Compounding
20
ScarGuard
Compounding
Graphological
variation
21
Supersmile
compounding
22
Better Body
Alliteration,
Butter
Minimal
pairs
2
APPENDIX 2
List of Slogans and Language Play Analysed
Type of language play
No.
Slogans of beauty
products
phonology
1
2
So clean. So cool. So
invigorating.
Maybe she’s born with it.
Maybe it’s Maybelline
Real results, naturally
alliteration
4
Don’t’ wait to be told, you
need Palmolive Gold
Look sharp, feel sharp
rhyme
6
syntax
Repetitive
syntax
Repetitive
syntax
3
5
morphology
Repetitive
syntax
Repetitive
syntax
Your Fragrance. Your
rules.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
We are all familiar with advertisements as we see them everyday on television,
in magazines, and newspapers. This fact is fully supported by Goddard (2002:5), who
says that modern readers are so familiar with advertising because it is all around us.
Advertisement is the place of communicating the products from the advertiser to
the potential buyers. Goddard further says that through advertisements, the advertisers
are to convey the producers’ messages (9).
An advertisement which is attractive will attract people’s attention to get the
message of the advertisement. As Goddard puts it, advertisement and advertising have,
at their root, a Latin word ‘advertere’, which means ‘turn towards’ (9). There are three
elements of an attractive advertisement: image, layout, and verbal text. Since I am
dealing with linguistic issues, I go further to verbal text. Verbal text of an
advertisement is the choice of words used, which should be able to attract the readers.
In choosing the right words to be used in an advertisement, an advertiser has to choose
suitable and attractive words which can make people pay attention to the advertisement,
especially in the slogans and brand names.
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Brand names and slogans help the advertiser to attract people’s attention and
help the consumer to remember the brand names. This is supported by Richard J.
Semenik, who says that the major goal of marketers is to make the consumer remember
the brand names of the product or it is called as brand recall. If the brand names are on
the top of mind or suddenly come to the consumer’s mind, that is when the brand is
recalled. He also believes that the marketers have some ways to promote the easy recall.
The first is through repetition. Repetition means how the brand names are repeated so as
to make them familiar to the consumers. The second one is by using slogans and jingles.
He said that slogans are linguistic devices that link a brand name to something
memorable, due to the slogans simplicity, rhyme or some other factors. In the end,
slogans and jingles help the consumers to recall the brand names easily (Semenik 271 273).
One of the ways to make attractive slogans and brand names is by using
language play, which means the manipulation of language (Crystal 1). David Crystal
believes that language play is part of the essence of advertising. He says that the first
task of advertising is to get the readers to notice the advertisement and to register the
identity of the product. In this situation, language play can help the consumer to identify
the product which is superior to other products, and also to convince the consumer that
the product will satisfy their needs (94).
In this case, the advertisers try to present their product exclusively by using
language play. This is one of the ways to capture the consumer’s attention. It is clear that
language has an important role in advertising, as playing with language is a significant
part for advertisers to help them make advertisements which can attract consumers
(Crystal 1, 94,97).
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I notice that many brand names and slogans of beauty product advertisements
play with the language to attract people’s attention. That is why I am interested in
analyzing the use of language play in advertisements for my thesis. I will analyze the
processes of language play and I will also find out the function of the language play in
relation to the characteristics of the brand names and slogans. The processes of language
play in the advertisements involve linguistic areas, such as Phonology, Morphology, and
Syntax. Phonology is the component of a grammar made up of the elements and
principles that determine how sounds pattern in language (O’Grady 68), while
Morphology is the system of categories and rules involved in word formation and
interpretation (O’Grady 132). Syntax is the structure and ordering of components within
a sentence (Yule 100). Language play that is used in Phonology is alliteration, while in
Morphology there is blending and compounding, and in Syntax there is the repetitive
syntax.
I hope that this thesis can raise people’s awareness of the use of language play in
advertisements. Then, after people become aware of the use of language play, I hope
they will put more respect on the creativity of the advertisers in creating language play.
Statement of the Problem
In this thesis, I focus on these problems:
1. What are the brand names and advertisement slogans which contain language
play?
2. What process of language play is involved in each brand name and slogan?
3. What characteristic of the brand names and slogans is emphasized through
the use of language play?
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Purpose of the Study
This particular study is made with the purposes as follows:
1. To show the brand names and advertisement slogans using language play.
2. To classify the process of language play of each brand name and slogan into
types of language play.
3. To find out the characteristic of the brand names and slogans that is
emphasized through language play.
Methods of Research
In gathering the data for the thesis, I will collect the data in magazines,
newspapers and also from internet. Then I analyze the process of language play and the
function of using it. I will support my analysis with the references that I get from text
books and the internet. Finally, I write the research report.
Organization of the Thesis
The thesis is divided into four chapters preceded by the Preface and the Abstract.
Chapter I, the Introduction, contains the Background of the Study, Statement of the
Problem, Methods of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter II contains the
theoretical review of language play. Chapter III contains the analysis of language play in
advertisements. Chapter IV contains the conclusion of the analysis of language play in
advertisements. The Bibliography and Appendix end the thesis.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
After analyzing the data, I arrive at the conclusion that language play in
advertisements is really important. Language play helps the advertisers to attract
people’s attention so the potential consumers will turn towards the advertisements.
Language play also helps the advertisers to build the consumers’ brand recall through its
use in slogans and brand names. Language play in advertisements will make the
potential consumers can directly remember the slogan or the brand names as they are
unique.
The processes of language play which are included in the advertisements show
that the advertiser always tries to show the superiority of the products either in the
slogans or in the brand names. From the twenty eight data above, I find twenty two data
of language play used in brand names and six data of language play in slogans.
In the brand names there are eighteen morphological processes. There are sixteen
brand names which use compounding and there are two brand names using blending.
Besides, there is one phonological process, such as three brand names using alliteration
and there is one syntaxical process that is repetitive syntax. From those processes in the
brand names, I think that compounding is the most effective way in attracting people’s
attention. By making a compound, the brand name becomes unique for two common
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words are combined together to make a new word with a special meaning. In this case,
compounding process helps the advertiser to show the benefit, the association and
ingredients of the product through the brand names.
The benefit of the product helps the advertiser to show the advantage after using
this product. For example, Inchloss. This product show the benefit of the product that an
inch of your body means your fat will be loss if their put this cream to their body.
The association of the product helps the advertiser to show that this product is
connected with other thing. For example, colorevolution, developing in giving color. In
addition, this compounding helps the advertiser to show the ingredients of the product,
so the consumer can know the source in making the beauty products.
The distinctiveness of the product helps the advertiser to show that this product
is use a simple word that is completely unrelated to the product.
In the other case, I assume that blending also has the ability to attract consumers.
The words that have been through the blending process will create a new word. The
consumers will find it unique when they read the brand names, as the words are new, yet
they look and sound familiar. The brand names which use blending usually show the
ingredients of the product and that makes us as consumers want to know more about the
ingredients of the product.
Furthermore, I believe that the phonological processes can raise people’s
awareness in their own way. I conclude that brand names which use alliteration can be
more memorable in the consumers mind for they have the same sound. Brand names
with alliteration are also ear-catching, which is an advantage in building brand recall.
On the other hand, slogans in advertisements have their own processes. I find
that there is one slogan using a phonological process, which is alliteration and four data
use a syntactic process, which is repetitive syntax. I find that advertisers also try to
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attract the consumer with their slogans. From those processes in the slogans, I think that
repetitive syntax is the most effective in attracting people’s attention. By using repetitive
syntax in the slogans, the advertiser can show the benefit of the product by repeating the
same words. Besides, repetitive syntax makes the slogans more ear-catching to the
consumers for the slogans have the same sounds and the repetition in the slogans can
help the advertiser in convincing the consumers to buy the product. While, alliteration in
the slogans helps the consumers to easily remember the slogans.
I also find out that language play is used in the brand names and slogans not only
to attract the consumer, but also to meet the main characteristics of a good brand name
which is benefit, association, distinctiveness, and simplicity. However, most of the brand
names and slogans convey the benefit of the product.
I conclude that the advertiser’s use of language play in the beauty products
which is mostly for women is useful to attract women’s attention because they can see
something in details and something new, as Allan and Barbara Pease said that women
are equipped with far more finely tuned sensory skills than man. Women’s intuition has
the ability to see and notice small changes and small details. (Pease, 2001:21-23). I
conclude that since women can see something in details and something new, they can
notice the language play in the brand names and slogans. Thus, this is an advantage for
the advertisers of women’s beauty products for the first task in advertising is to get the
consumer’s noticed. I consider that women can notice the language play in the brand
names and slogans and they can read between the lines what the brand names and
slogans say to find out about the characteristics of the brand names and slogans. Women
can understand the meaning behind the word that they see or hear. For example, women
will be able to understand the benefit of a product named Youngblood. This is fully
supported by Allan and Barbara Pease that female hearing advantage contributes
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significantly to what is called ‘women’s intuition’ and is one of the reasons why a
woman can read between the lines of what people say. (Pease, 2001:30-31).
In my own opinion, I think that language play is very useful to attract people’s
attention for it is ear catching. I suggest that in making a brand name and slogan, the
advertiser should deal more with language play. Brand names and slogans are related to
each other. The slogans should support the brand names to build brand recall and to
make the consumers feel that they really need the product. On the other hand, the brand
names should possess good characteristics to attract the consumers, to make them have
the desire to buy the products.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crystal, D. Language Play. England: Penguin Group, 1998.
Duncan, T. Advertising and IMC. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2005.
Goddard,A. The Language of Advertising. London: Routledge, 2002.
Hornby,A.S. Oxford advanced Learner’s and Dictionary of Current English. London:
Oxford University Press. 1963.
Leech & Short. Style in Fiction. London and New York: Longman. 1994.
Pease, Allan, and Barbara Pease. Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps.
London: Orion House, 2001.
Semenik,R.J. Promotion and Integrated Marketing Communications. 2002.
Internet Websites
Klein, Naomi. “No Logo”. (2000). 21 September
2007